Artistic Iran: Appreciating Introspective Attention to Individuality

A mustachioed, muscle-bound figure cradles a machine gun in front of his blue, flaming pick-up, adorned with Iranian wrestling chaps and a Dolce & Gabanna belt buckle. In Iranian artist Siamak Filizadeh's portrayal of Rostam, a Herculean figure from tenth-century Persian literature, he recreates an ancient figure of Iranian culture with accoutrements that seem largely materialistic and Western. The result seems to be a tongue-in-cheek blend of modern and national identity, whose spirit thrives despite the dominance of religion since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. A slim, though Hulk Hogan-esque, figure, Zaal, adorned with a cannabis necklace and a softball-sized belt buckle proclaiming in bright red letters "TEXAS," accompanies Rostam in Filizadeh's Zaal arrives to help Rostam, Rostan 2 the Return, 2008.

Filizadeh is one of 21 Iranian artists included in an abridged version of the Chelsea Art Museum's (CAM) exhibition Iran Inside Out, which is showing at DePaul University Art Museum until November 22. The art focuses on the breadth of vibrant identities in Iran, half of whose people are under 30, in light of the threat of sanctions from the West, political discord following a disputed election, and economic mismanagement by the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The results are dazzling, though meant to focus on the artists rather than purely themes of politics or oppression.

“Let’s not hijack the artwork,” says CAM curator Sam Bardaouil in Time Out Chicago. “[Iranian] artists are always burdened with all this history. This show is also about the artists as individuals.”


In the above shot of Iran Inside Out at DePaul, one sees Sara Rahbar's Did You See What Love Did to Us Once Again, Flag, 2008. The flag of the United States is draped correctly, superimposed with a embroidered golden outline of the Middle East. The words "Did you see what love did to us once again" are embroidered in Persian on the stripes, having come from the fourteenth-century poet, Hafez. Rahbar, a member of the diaspora fleeing the Iran-Iraq civil war, meant to portray her personal search for identity in melding pieces of Persian and American traditions. The exhibit notes explain, "conflicted emotions of love not only suggest her personal search for identity, but also the tortuous relationship between Iran and the United States."

In other works, the line between the West and Iran becomes further blurred and questioning of any perceived hostility. Arash Sedaghatkish's watercolors portray several hip-looking, attractive Tehran students dressed in jeans and puma shoes and backpacks, sometimes only distinguishing themselves from Midwesterners by a loosened hijab. In the CAM catalog, Sedaghatkish explains the desire to explore "the shift between familiarity and newness." Though the exploration portrayed could itself bend the rules of tradition and dress code.

To the right, Behdad Lahooti's A Cliche for Mass Media takes a stab at broken promises from Iran's government, highlighting domestic frustrations, through the use of a floor toilet. Flowing down the drain are slogans of government promises for "housing for youth," "economy," and "jobs." Lahooti's droll representation expresses the dissatisfaction of youth in relation to the Islamic Republic, which in my mind mirrors apathy in the United States toward the efficacy of its own republican government. In a snarky nod to common disillusionment with government, Lahooti identifies himself in the lower right-hand corner as a "sculptor for hire," giving his phone number and imploring the viewer to send him better ideas. I dare say that "tea baggers" in the U.S. could find common ground with Iranians in their dissatisfaction.

In a vein potentially more controversial with the west, Farhad Moshiri and Shirin Aliabadi collaborated to make Operation Supermarket, an exhibit first shown in Bidoun magazine and Counter Gallery in 2006. The emphasis was on making stereotypes in the media regarding the Middle East into commodities bought and sold in the name of some questionable idea of progress. To the left is the commonly portrayed idea of intifada struggles against the West, the shallow commodification of which allows those ghastly blood stains to be magically whisked away with the help of laundry detergent. I could see a similar work where a detergent called "Donald Rumsfeld" magically brings peace and democracy to Iraq with the simple application of U.S. troops. The works seem to mock the idea that consumerism, capitalism, and the ephemeral idea of progress can overcome years of injustice and strong emotion between the West and Iran.

In all, the artists in the wonderful exhibition at DePaul show the range and depth of emotion that is often lost in the pervasive message of Us v. Them when it comes to relations between the West and Iran, young and old Iranians, and progressives and clerics. The CAM's Iran Inside Out invites us to look at the complexity of our situation as a collection of individuals who have similar frustrations with our respective governments, moralities, and with each other.

The Chelsea Art Museum's Iran Inside Out will be showing until November 22 at DePaul University Art Museum. On November 12 at 7:30 pm, artist, Negin Sharifzadeh, will present a dance performance, Beyond the Sense of Breaking.

We celebrated Halloween with Batman!!

My girlfriend and I, a little worn out from the week, were loathe to get in line to enter a packed bar to drink mediocre beer at non-mediocre prices. In a turn of whimsy, she dressed in a cute black outfit, grabbed a small Batman action figure that I got from a Cheerios box, grabbed my arm and ordered that chaos should ensue. Below is the result.....

Helping Haiti and Having Happiness

Recently I've started going back to church. No, I'm not talking about worshiping some invisible guy in outer space who hates homosexuals and dictates that we give our money to sex fiends and the Republican party... Sorry, hope I didn't offend anyone...

The girlfriend and I have been going to the Unitarian church called Micah's Porch, located in Chicago's Wicker Park. We've been searching for answers about the meaning of life, what our role is in the world, the other good things that actually come from the "church experience": community, service, discussion of meaning, free food.

The things I like: we drink coffee instead of harping on about drinking some dude's blood, God is a personal and different concept depending on the person, lack of dogma dictating who is "saved" and going to hell, services are held in a theater instead of some weird churchy place, and a rock band plays decent non-Christian music.

I don't consider myself religious, Christian, or atheist. I see worth in Christian compassion, but also Buddhist philosophy, Taoist rationalism, and progressive Muslim thought, and other parts of various traditions.

I told the pastor that I didn't know if there is a God. He responded that people all have to find what is authentic to them, on a path that is compassionate and mindful of how individuals impact the world.

With that in mind, I've tried the service thing that everyone claims to want to do to better the world and make a positive impact, feed the children, save the whales, etc.

Two strangers from the Micah's and I (most of the "parishioners" are under 30) carpooled out to a nonprofit called Bright Hope yesterday. The two strangers quickly became my friends, both interested in questioning government, the arts, politics, philosophy in a way with which I could engage.

Upon getting to Hoffman Estates-based Bright Hope, the more left-leaning folks from Micah's (us 3) came into contact with suburbia, Illinois, with Republican Christians, a girl scout troop, and possibly the random Americorps volunteer trying to pay back college loans. Our collective goal: feed Haitian kids.

We assembled into a warehouse and in assembly-line fashion, packaged bags with measured amounts of protein, dehydrated veggies, soy, and rice, something the organizers deemed a "scientifically-divined" formula to give the right nutrients to kids who would have otherwise eaten dirt to stave off hunger pains.

I handled the rice at first, pouring it after the protein, veggies, soy into a spout that filled bags. The bags were measured, pulled taut, sealed, boxed, and organized to be sent to rural areas of Haiti. I shifted from rice to veggies, from veggies to soy in my attempts to stave off the tediousness of dumping food product in a spout to save lives in Haiti, making sure to make polite small talk with my more conservative and Christian co-workers The Micah's group, all three of us, broke off to invade the Republicans. (note: I am not really a Democrat, but I do enjoy making fun of Republicans, in good humor of course.)

Though the work was very mundane in itself, (repetitive factory work for 2 hours what many people would consider the ideal way to spend the afternoon) the spokesman/organizer at bright hope reminded us of our important work. And it did feel good to help in my small way to feed kids who would otherwise go hungry, make new friends, work with people with which I might not usually find much in agreement.
We were informed that the warehouse group of about 40ish volunteers produced 21,000 "meals," filling 98 boxes to be sent to Haiti, with the ultimate possibility of staving off hunger for 57 kids for a year. All in all, I felt that that was a Saturday better spent than sitting in front of the computer.

While riding back to Chi-town with my two new friends, we talked about other ways we could help out, common concerns with the economy/politics, listened to good music. The whole experience helped me fulfill a need that many in my generation may have - a feeling of connectedness to the world.

Cheesy, but true. I recommend any volunteering that you think could make an impact. Take a flask along if you need a pick-me-up.

Testicles, assholes, and the Nobel Prize

Joe Scarborough can occasionally make a good point about the downfall of actual conservatism in the face of Republican dominance. Though his "discussion" on Obama winning the Nobel Prize devolved into a back and forth with Limbaugh over putting testicles into a vice and the White House calling him an asshole.

I'm glad that useful airtime is devoted to lips and assholes to handle the tough questions that are facing U.S. Citizens in light of a recession, two wars, health care conundrum, etc.

I for one thought the Nobel was premature. Obama has given some successful speeches to garner the attention, and some respect, from the world. There's the highest level talks with Iran regarding its nuclear program, Mendvedev is considering sanctions, Non-proliferation is again on the global radar. But Afghanistan and Palestine are drifting further from peace.

I also think, Big deal... Kissinger and Teddy Roosevelt also won Nobel Peace prizes.

Below is somewhat entertaining. Lips and assholes anyone?

Clintonesque

Bill Clinton says Barack Obama is ready to be president.

I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world,” Mr. Clinton said. “Barack Obama is ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.”

Good for him... I tuned out after the fourth time he repeated the aforementioned platitude. He did sort of qualify his support on the fact that Biden is the running mate.

Not that I'm in complete disagreement, but I didn't share the wholehearted enthusiasm of the thousands of Denver fruit cakes waving plastic flags and wearing bling red, white, and blue top hats a la Uncle Sam.

At this point, the son of a Kenyan and a Kansan who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia certainly presents a better alternative to John Wayne McCain. McCain claims to not know much about the economy, makes jokes about killing Iranians, and cheers on the smell of freedom at a gas-guzzling, Harley Hog show.

Obama actually wants to talk to other nations, you know, like that which the second termers in the Bush Administration have actually made flaccid policy attempts (U.S. representation in European talks with Iran, working with former Sunni insurgents in Iraq.)

Right now, more "moderate" Bushies like Dr. Rice, Jimmy Baker, and Bob Gates make McCain look like Dr. Strangelove.

As a former community organizer with Chicago's poor, ethics-bill champion, and diplomacy before violence candidate, Obama should easily portray himself as a more "I feel your pain" candidate.

Change sells out

Barack Obama and a majority of democrats voted yes on extending wiretap powers of the federal government. This in a ongoing debate about preserving privacy of individuals and getting those pesky Al Qaeda-types who use cell phones to call their contacts in Canada, Florida, and Tacoma, Washington.

In a quote that sounds a bit like Yosemite Sam meets Tony the Tiger, Republicans allay our fears by explaining that some new safeguards are in place to insure no prying on citizens who don't deserve it.

There is nothing to fear in the bill, said Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who was a lead negotiator, in the NYTimes “unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial.”

Yeah, for all those pesky militants that carry Al Qaeda in their cell phone address books...

Back to Obama...

The campaign of "Change" (whatever the hell that means) is smelling like a sound-bite ridden, not-too-offensive pile of goat dung. The man who made brilliant speeches about the need to deal with racial bias, the need to preserve civil liberties, proper judgment to keep out of unnecessary wars.... Now is talking about "moderating" his Iraqi pullout timetable, giving states more leverage in limiting reproductive choice, and voting to spread the backward policies of impinging on civil liberties in the name of "getting the badguys."

A big point of contention was the issue of retroactive immunity for telecom companies who helped government spy on us. Obama had earlier said that he'd vote against immunity, even filibuster, before deciding to "moderate his position." (Is there something moderate about government powers to spy on citizens?)

Democrats are sure doing a heckuva job trying to portray themselves as the party of change. What with voting to extend the war funding, and this latest policy blowjob to a president that's unpopular and policies that are seen as failing.

A CNN poll late June puts the percentage of Americans opposing the Iraq War at 68 percent. 64 percent want to see most troops removed from the war in the first couple months in the next administration.

Bush now has a whopping 24% approval rating. Congress is got 21% of Americans happy with them.

Why can't the democrats(Feingold and friends are excepted), and Obama in particular, get some balls and legislate change instead just putting out nice PR rhetoric about "valuing everyone's perspective," even if its counterproductive? Say, bringing the troops home, using the millions per day spent over there to foster private and public investment in green technologies, education, health care etc?

Why do I give tax money to these people?

I love how we're "dealing" with the poor economy. Printing off more dollars for people to spend in the form of tax breaks. Yes, when the people are angry, lets give them money that doesn't exist to make them happy. Cutting interest rates so that people can borrow more...

The Audacity of Acquiescence...

Sad Days

My beloved Isthmus, Madison's alt-weekly, is considering lay offs that are spreading across the newspaper industry, reports the Capital Times, who itself had to cut staff and quit printing paper editions of the daily.

This as advertisers prefer to go to lower cost venues instead of pumping money into a paper that not only uncovers police brutality and government corruption, but does it with personality. The great thing I like is that editors there don't pretend to be objective and rehash quotes/old story lines. In this way the paper addresses a more specific audience.

Much more valuable to advertisers than just a general info rag for the "average American."

I've been thinking for a long time that Isthmus should collect a minor subscription fee instead of being soley funded by ad dollars. Such a fee could be negligible, but still help fund substantive gaps.

For example, instead of being free, how about charging $0.05 per copy? A lot of readers would likely pay a nickel for Isthmus.

If Isthmus charged five cents with its current circulation of 61,000, that's $3050 extra each week. Enough to pay for more reporters (and freelancers). Even if circulation dropped to 45,000 due to the price, that's an extra $2,250...

...jeez I'm happy I joined the journalism industry...

Thedailypage/Isthmus will find a way to get its message out despite changes/a poor economy. If not just because it's a Madison institution.

Operation Iraqi Oil

It's official, Bush cronies have swapped oil deals for international cred, despite the Iraqi government, according to a Congressional panel. Bush's friendly friends at Hunt Oil contracted under the semiautonomous government of Kurdistan (a region in Iraq's north); this without the consent of Iraq's central government in Baghdad.

In the NYTimes:

The company, Hunt Oil of Dallas, signed the deal with Kurdistan’s semiautonomous government last September. Its chief executive, Ray L. Hunt, a close political ally of President Bush, briefed an advisory board to Mr. Bush on his contacts with Kurdish officials before the deal was signed.

In an e-mail message released by the Congressional committee, a State Department official in Washington, briefed by a colleague about the impending deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government, wrote: “Many thanks for the heads up; getting an American company to sign a deal with the K.R.G. will make big news back here. Please keep us posted.”

...The encouragement by State Department officials did not end with the signing of the contract on Sept. 8, the documents suggest. Five days later, a State Department official in the southern city of Basra wrote to Ms. Phillips, “I read and heard about with interest your deal with the regional Kurdish government.”

“I don’t know if you are aware of another opportunity,” the official wrote, mentioning an enormous port project and a natural gas project in the south. After a few more lines, the official concluded, “This seems like it would be a good opportunity for Hunt.”

Glad we went to Iraq to build democracy and help our brothers and sisters in the Iraq government, by allowing that central government to be undercut by private American interests allied with the president.

This also may pose a problem as Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish Iraqis have tensions between them. A thorny issue is reception of revenue of rich oil deposits in the northern city of Kirkuk.

Islamic Bretheren in the Pakistani Mountains (or) Bringing Hope to the Village.

After losing himself in the Karakoram mountain range amid an effort scale K2 in 1992, Greg Mortenson found his purpose in a mountain village cut off from the world, to bring education to Pakistanis and Afghans who've been neglected by nature and their government. This is the premise of Three Cups of Tea, a book that I've just completed. After a series of British dystopian novels, it was a welcome celebration of humanity in an otherwise harsh part of the world.

The first school was built in a village of Korphe, where boys and girls had practiced math lessons in freezing dirt between weekly visits from an unpaid teacher. Mortenson was so taken by the kindness of the village, he saw the opportunity that was lost as kids had no alternative to the fundamentalist Islamic Madrassas, funded by Saudi petrol dollars.

After donations from a French scientist, Jean Horni, Mortenson set on his path through the Central Asia Institute to build schools and provide non-fundamentalist education to the children of Korphe, and eventually to other villages in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"I don't want to teach Pakistan's children to think like Americans," says Mortenson on page 209. "I just want them to have a balanced, nonextremist education."



With such tact to listen to the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan, to create opportunity through their lenses and viewpoints, Mortenson was able to appeal to actual tenets of Islam, of giving to the community and caring for the poor. Something militant Islam seems to neglect in pursuit of political gains.

Mortenson did face his threats, fatwas by political, fundamentalist Islamic and Taliban leaders. But one of the more heartening parts of the story, aside from a girl from Korphe eventually becoming a doctor and asserting herself in a patriarchal society, is the support Mortenson received from conservative and moderate Islamic leaders.

"There are certain Europeans who come to Pakistan determined to tear Islam down," says Syed Abbas (page 191), a conservative shia leader influential in Iran and Pakistan. "And I was worried, at first, that Dr. Greg was one of them. But I looked into his heart that day at the petrol pump and saw him for what he is -an infidel, but a noble man nonetheless, who dedicates his life to the education of children. I decided on the spot to help him in any way I could."

Syad Abbas would later help to persuade Shia leaders to condemn fatwas against Mortenson, and defend him as a better follower of Islamic tenets of charity than clerics bent on halting the schools.

Such help wasn't a rarity as Mortenson engaged more moderate leaders. After 9/11, Islamic leaders protected Mortenson from harmful actions of fundamentalist militant Islam. This even as Americans were threatening Mortenson and his family with death for "helping those Muslims." Moderate individuals in the region blamed the tragedy of 9/11 and the ensuing war in Afgahistan on lack of education and the head-butting of President Bush and Bin Laden.

"Osama is not a product of Pakistan," says Brigadier General Gashir Baz, on page 310. "... you can never fight and win against someone who can shoot at you once and then run off and hide while you have to remain eternally on guard. You have to attack the source of your enemy's strength. In America's case, that's not Osama or Saddam or anyone else. The enemy is Ignorance."

After reading, similarities between small-town America and small-town Pakistan appear. The belief that if outsiders respected the lifestyle of these groups, and tried to work within that framework, whether it be Evangelist Christianity or Shia Islam, then progressive relationships could create opportunity for understanding.

In America, Evangelists are working with liberals, despite their differences, to lobby for proper stewardship of the environment. In Pakistan, an American can work towards empowering woman in a reinterpretation of Islamic tenets of charity and goodwill.

With the Afghan war increasingly more dangerous, and military leaders still mentioning the "picking off" of Al Queda leaders as the real gains in the "War on Terror," I can only hope that policy makers will gradually see that ideological conflict is better fought with books than guns.

"Before I met you Greg, I had no idea what education was," says Jahan, the first educated woman of Korphe, and granddaughter of Mortenson's mentor and Korphe nurmadhar, Haji Ali. "But now I think it is like water. It is important for everything in life."

Instead of being the humble wife, subject to strict limits on her economic future, Jahan is studying medicine and hopes on building and managing a hospital to help children of her village to find their own way. It's a great story. Even better, it's true.

Act like you give a shit and people will like you

Onion once again delivers the fake news in such a real way that it's more real than the real news, or something to that effect.

Puerto Rico, Iraq, and the ability to see gray

My latest chitowndailynews.org article highlights the work of 14 students Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, who curated an exhibition looking at Puerto Rico's past through the eyes of others.

Amidst a week of celebration in Humboldt Park on Puerto Rican heritage the week of June 9, I found the students work to be the best show of pride. (My street was turned into a parking lot, otherwise, for a carnival in the park next door)

17th century documents show Europeans dealing in the slave trade, 19th-20th century photos/books show Puerto Ricans in a disparaging light (needing to be developed by those industrious Yanks and Spaniards), academics from the same period spoke of the burgeoning independence movement after the Spanish American War.

I don't think the article does justice to the efforts of the students; I never was able to get a hold of any of them. But their work was impressive...See info here.

Also, the University of Chicago Oriental Institute is running an exhibition on the looting of Iraq's past until December, which I wrote about here in a column for New City alt-Weekly.

Coalition forces are documented as not stopping tbe looting the elements of Iraqi history, and ultimately civilization writ large. This as New Conservatives talked about building a democratic society. There's some irony.

In the news, Big oil companies are now "negotiating" no-bid oil contracts in Iraq, one sees the real reason we went to war... The results of these negotiations will be known Monday.

I digress...

The University of Chicago exhibition is worthwhile for a cold/rainy day. Or someday when you don't feel like going outside and want to be cynical, yet informed. Cynicism and knowledge are far from mutually exclusive. For more about location, etc., click here.

Today's weather, however, is beautiful. And I'm not feeling like reveling in my cynicism. Perhaps tomorrow.

Talking to Nazis

US figurehead W. Bush told Israeli parliament that talking to himself is like appeasing the Nazis.

I'm not kidding, it was reported in the New York Times after all.

His exact words:

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Mr. Bush said. “We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Radicals, like the Bush administration, won't admit when they're wrong, no matter how many times a civil discussion is attempted. They advocated torture, a war for oil, compromise national security by outing operatives who disagree with them. Not to mention hiring, and sheltering, vigilante groups (Blackwater) that kill civilians abroad and hiring crony businesses (Haliburton, Kellog Brown & Root) that give poor, yet overpriced, services US troops.

Of course, Bush was really talking about attempts to engage and negotiate with Hamas and Hezbollah, how that's a bad thing. Because listening to those with whom one disagrees is a bad thing, even though listening isn't accepting. Instead, radicalism should be met with one-sided argument that claims a very simple worldview for the benefit of one group of people (radicalism).

...it's just too easy...

Clinton - Hi, I'm a soundbite away from winning this mofo

While the Obamanator is holding a big enough delegate lead in the Dem race for our next president, his latest "Gaffe" leaves me reminded that politics is veering to what it's always been, a collection of sound bites and empty promises.

So, what did the Harvard-educated, black, former community organizer do this time?

Said that Midwestern voters may be insulated and afraid and possibly putting false blame on bogiemen! ***Gasps with shock!***

Here goes the Tribune's account of what Obama said in response to why he might not be hitting it off with Joe six-pack:

"It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations (with losing manufacturing jobs, etc).''

Now, I see this as part of a nuanced discussion on why different perspectives lead to alternate realities (I believe Obama had referred to this as " different lenses" through which people see the world). Working or unemployed Midwestern folks do by and large blame problems on free-trade policies and Mexicans. And us Midwesterners like our guns.

Not that that's necessarily wrong. It's a free country, and you can pin problems on any bogeyman you want: Muslims, Immigrants, Jews, Right-Wing nuts, Left-Wing nuts, Bush and Cheney, the Kennedy family. Let's just be conscious of who we are naming as our "Devil," and whether it's fair to do so or try to find solutions.

Clinton's response is a the best part of this whole debacle. She names the devil, those elitist liberals, of which she is not. And talks about how she TOTALLY identifies with you.



Clinton is the most in touch after all. Her grandfather worked in a factory and everything. I mean, her and Bill pulled in couple million since 2000, living on franks and beans as Hillary donned her best Ebonics accent.

Also, she likes guns:

“You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” she said.

Just don't be Gov. Richardson to the Clinton household. Bill Clinton nearly chewed his head off for not being a grateful puppy dog. I mean, Richardson has a lot of his political career owed to the Clintons, and they watched the Super Bowl and everything.

Don't worry, cries of blame and desperation will help McCain in November, then we can look forward to new wars, not really knowing much about the economy...

Is this the best we can come up with?

Busee Bee

For all you loyal "fans" out there, sorry that it's been a while since I've got the blogger 2000 up and running. I've a good excuse in that in the past two months I've lost a love one, started a new day job selling books, had my house broken into and laptop stolen, and I've been trying to keep up my writing at New City in Chicago.

Don't panic. I'm good. But renter's insurance is slightly overrated.

I was very happy with the latest art show at the Around the Coyote gallery around the 1900 West Block of North Ave in Wicker Park, doing an extended profile in it here at Chicago's "street-smart" alt-weekly.

Haseeb Ahmed presents several works of Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, 20 years after al-Ali's death. Al-Ali's work is featured as a symbol of resistance for the Israel-Palestine conflict, with works making fun of political figures of all stripes while acknowledging the oppressed - their personae similar to any group of common folks trying to survive.

It reminds me every day that the world is infinitely larger than our individual perspective can completely comprehend.

Garden Fresh brings you Distopia and Banality in Shiny Packages

Garden Fresh art gallery, in the west loop, features to pleasantly sardonic artists 'till March 1.

As reviewed by yours truly:

Holly Holmes gives graphical commentary on the dissolution of a idealized versions of our world thanks to the forces of humanity. Nuclear cooling towers, skyscrapers, and beer bottles break idyllic scenes of a school of fish, a country sunset, and glacial wildlife. The childish-like painting in some works seem to make a statement about the human impact on the world. Is pollution a bastardization of our childlike idealism? Are we taking something for granted through short-sighted disregard for environment? Or was the artist just having fun?

A forest of chopped trees and striped green clouds awaits...

Mike Lash plays with pop culture references, juxtapositioning, and boobies to comment on little lies that parents tell their children and the dumbing up of human experience. His textual-based prints and paintings are worth seeing simply for being on one hand, banal, on the other hand, happily schizophrenic.

At the exhibit, Lash kindly shared merlot and rye whiskey to keep the gears spinning. Can't promise you the same luck...

Can't I take a shower?

Tribune columnist John Kass lathered up city hall Wednesday to see if he could use Bennett Johnson's shower. Johnson, the Chicago Budget Director, recently installed a shower in his office with possible use of public money.

Kass's stunt (with video!) is a hilarious look at wasteful spending in Chicago, while rising sales and property taxes creep up on the city's residents before the pending recession.

Carrying his towel and Irish Spring soap, Kass asks things like,
"Can't I take a shower?" It's being funded with taxpayer money after all.
"Where's Bennett, I'd like to talk to him?"
"How many people can fit in the shower"
Are there warming lights to stay warm when you get out?

Johnson's spokeswoman, Wendy Abrams, responded to nearly all of Kass's requests, "That's a fair question. I can't answer that right now, but I will give you an answer by the end of the day."

Pleasantly stalling...

Mayor Daley's administration, meanwhile, claims Johnson is footing the >$5000 bill for the shower, as stated in the Tribune.

Emminent domain, development, and you

Chicago city council is considering promoting a controversial TIF district in the North Lawndale area, reports chitowndailynews.org.

Residents organized under the Lawndale Alliance are wary of a TIF district because of the fear that any new city-financed development will displace residents and not deal with the root causes of high crime/poverty/unemployment in the area.

Lawndale Alliance founder Joe Ann Bradley's request that assurances be made to residents regarding eminent domain, etc. sounds nice. But city assurances seem more like political protection for Daley and his allies than any sort of active protection.

As far as the TIF plans so far...

Preliminary city budget estimates for the TIF include $2.5 million for job training; $10 million for property assembly and site preparation; $35 million for rehabilitation of buildings and construction of affordable housing; and $30 million for public works improvements, such as streets, utilities and parking

With the third largest amount of crime reported for city neighborhoods, Lawndale needs to change. That residents are organizing gives some hope that change will not come just in the form of new condos and shopping centers.

Gung Hay Fat Choy, Sun Nien Fai Lok

"Wishing you prosperity and Happy New Year."

Thousands came out to Wentworth Avenue today in sub-zero temperatures to ring in the New Lunar Year 4706. An organizer of the celebration estimated that about 20,000 come to the annual Chinatown event.

The dragon was pretty cool, along with my frostbitten hands.

"The Year of the Rat" restarts the 12-year cycle the Chinese Zodiac calendar. Those born in the "Year of the Rat" are said to be "charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. They are said to be endowed with great leadership skills and to be the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. They are said to be intelligent and cunning, highly ambitious and strong-willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which are often said to include money and power."

My girlfriend, Caroline, took the following video; so you can get the highlights of Chicago Chinatown right in your warm, comfy armchair, or on your office computer as the case may be.

So Gung Hay Fat Choy, and drink some Tsing Tao!



Photos:

The Cap Times reinvents itself

Madison's progressive afternoon daily will never be the same. The Cap Times announced yesterday that it would cease six-day production of its afternoon print edition, following a trend of demises for afternoon dailies across the country. The paper will primarily have an online presence starting in April, with two weekly tabloid versions inside its competitor the State Journal. Though seemingly grim news, the change isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Many people think that in order to be powerful, a journalist has to reach a huge audience," said Ellen Hume, Research Director of the Center for Future Civic Media, in a speech at West Bohemia University. "No, in order to be powerful, a journalist has to reach the audience that can make a difference to an issue. It can be one person."

Formerly as an intern and contributor, and always as a reader of the Cap Times, I see the the paper filling a needed watchdog role. With Madison's popular progressive readership, the paper has featured such stories as an expose on the doctor abuse within the prison system, the hidden costs behind charity fund raisers, unsavory lobbying of the state cable bill, and more. It's hard to think that silencing such a voice would be acceptable to readers.

Despite a low paper circulation hovering around 17,000, the State Journal's needed subsidies, and high number of staff, the Cap Times could be economically viable as an online product.

From my own experience, online readership of the Cap Times is hardly waning. As an intern, I read responses to my articles (hate mail and otherwise) from NY, UK, CA...A story jointly written by city editor Chris Murphy and I on one of Sen. Feingold's listen sessions caught tens of thousands of hits online within a couple of days.

The news organization has also shown some innovation last spring in revamping its style. Tighter columns on its Web site allowing for more easy online reading, page format seems much less cluttered, and a quick reader response feature gives a nod to bloggers. John Nichols gave live-blogging a go during municipal elections last spring and the staff is toying with video editorials.

Among other things that could be useful are a hyperlink sharing features for blogging and social networking sites (Facebook, Digg, Blogger, Newsvine tabs) and permalinks for stories. As if Shauna didn't have enough to do...

The main competitor for the Cap Times will be thedailypage.com, for which I've also written. Both present a more progressive viewpoint, not afraid to bring fire to a debate on local politics or fallacies in the justice system. But thedailypage.com is strictly local, featuring more arts and entertainment than news. Cap Times could show broader reach into state politics.

Breaking news could be where Cap Times will hold it's niche. Prior agreements with the State Journal have allowed it to seize on breaking news of the day. Whether this agreement changes?? Also, with no paper product, the local news shouldn't be subject to a noon deadline anymore.

The toughest part of the changeover at Cap Times will be staff cuts. Online publishing decreases the need for as many staff, but a short-staffed editorial department could hinder content.

Such is the nature of the old guard of newspapers unless there is consolidation across media, something that the progressive paper won't do. Here in Chicago, there's cuts at the Sun-Times (also due to stupid business decisions) and Sam Zell's purchase of Tribune Co. is allowing a media empire to stay competitive (possibly to the detriment of the %#@&ing news).

With all the economic bogymen in today's news world, Cap Times still has a leg to stand on. And it should keep on fighting.

F&$@ your covering important issues

Sara Fajardo, an Orlando Sentinel photographer, received an F-bomb for asking about journalism's obligation to inform communities about social issues and political detritus. Tribune Co.'s new Chief Executive Sam Zell delivered the F-bomb in what would have been an otherwise interesting exchange on the state of the news.

Here's the exchange.

"What readers want are puppy dogs," Fajardo said, alluding to soft feature stories. "We also need to inform the community."

"I'm sorry," Zell responded. "But you're giving me the classic, what I would call, journalistic arrogance by deciding that puppies don't count. I don't know anything about puppies. What I'm interested in is how can we generate additional interest in our products and additional revenue so we can make our product better and better and hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq. Fuck you."

UW alumnus and Chicago Tribune columnist, Phil Rosenthal, pointed out how Zell's response raises questions about his ability to respect the Tribune Co.'s new value on questioning authority. If journalists are going to ask him his views on creating awareness as well as revenue. Will they always be told to fuck off?

The audience applauded Zell's response, as he was bringing up a good point. Journalists may have to cater to public whim, reporting on fluff events that the public wants, in order to bring in enough revenue to do investigative pieces, cover social/political problems.

But the point was lost when he acted like a belligerent drunk.

Perhaps a better thought that could have come out of this is that journalists must consider how they report rather than on what. Newspapers cover fluff, but is that what the public really wants?

Perhaps newspapers should consider writing with a more lively tone. Objectivity is a good thing, but perhaps it stifles analysis and can lead to the mind-numbing "he said, she said" story. I don't mean leaving some points of view out, but stories sometimes don't distinguish between which perspective holds more water given evidence.

Perhaps the solution for newspapers is interactive online media. Hyperlinks, videos, and blogs/forums allow the reader to see an event or issue first hand, and comment on it instead of just reading and believing. I know many alternative weeklies, e-magazines, small progressive newspapers, and professional blogs who've done this well...

Recently fired L.A. Times editor Jim O'Shea commented on the state of mass journalism much more eloquently as he made his way out of the door:

"The current system relies too heavily on voodoo economics and not enough on the creativity and resourcefulness of journalists," he said, Too often "we've been dismissed as budgetary adolescents who can't be trusted to conserve our resources."

However, O'Shea also wrote how Zell is a smart businessman who would likely come around to see his point of view...